Boston Celtics: 2 blockbuster deals that land 2021 draft picks
Boston Celtics fans, this trade deadline might not be where superstar players linked to the team in rumors are acquired for draft picks.
Just like last year. And the year before that.
It seems that Danny Ainge is not keen on making too many changes to the current pecking order on what is really just a somewhat watered-down version of last year’s Eastern Conference finals losing squad.
Gone are offensive threats like Enes Kanter and Gordon Hayward, who have been starting games on teams above the Cs in the standings. Even feel-good late-life rookie Brad Wanamaker has been replaced by a declining Jeff Teague.
Simply put, Ainge did more damage-control than active roster-building this past offseason. Tristan Thompson was his one big home-run swing, and while it isn’t completely fair to say it was a swing and miss, it feels fair to call it a foul ball at best.
2020-21 has shown us that no matter how dire things look, Ainge isn’t likely to pull the trigger on anything that will disrupt the current locker-room situation.
There may be some scarring still from having Kyrie Irving on his roster.
Ainge doubled down on the confidence of the roster he built in the 2020 offseason in a recent interview with 98.5 The Sports Hub:
"“I really like my guys,” he said. “If anything, maybe I’m guilty of liking my people too much as people and knowing the fit and the culture that is created in the organization. But I don’t think that I’m trying to pull a fast one on other organizations or other people that I’m dealing with. They know what we have and they like them or they don’t.”"
Instead of daydreaming about landing a star at the trade deadline, perhaps pivoting towards the future–while remaining competitive to make the postseason in 2021–is the way forward in Boston.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have established themselves as key foundational pieces, but all around them are players who are having trouble contributing within their roles.
As long as the team lacks talent that could contribute in a supporting role, a championship is out of the question in the immediate future. Tatum and Brown being under the age of 25 means this team has time to develop, though, and cost-controlled draft talent could actually benefit the team more than acquiring a high-priced role player would when history looks back at this (completely chaotic) time period.
Today, instead of exploring a deal for a win-now piece, Hardwood Houdini is exploring 2 blockbusters focused on landing the Boston Celtics draft picks in the 2021 NBA Draft: